Compromise
by DramaDork21
Summary: Before Bella and Edward settled their differences, he had to find a way to compromise with Alice. Luckily for him, everyone has their price.. Oneshot.


_A/N: So, first off, Happy Leap Day! I love anomalous days…_

_With that out of the way, here's the story behind the story. I wrote this for the Twilightathon challenge over on Livejournal. My prompt was "Alice receiving her bribe." And me being me, I procrastinated until the very last day… Heh. Oh well. It was odd, because I've been writing a lot of angst recently, and then I had to finish writing this, which is… very much not. Oh well._

_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't own anything Twilight or even Twilight related, beyond my daydreams and my copies of the books… No nice Volvos or M3s or Porsches for me!_

• • •

"This is a BAD idea, Edward." He'd barely made it two steps in the door, and to be technical about it, he hadn't really asked me yet. I knew what he was going to ask me, however, and I also knew that what he was going to ask me, however, and I always knew that what he was going to ask me would end with on very unhappy human.

His eyes were dark as night as he turned from closing the door to face me. He frowned as he looked at me, but I didn't back down. I was sure he knew this was coming. It was all I had been able to think about since I had gotten the vision, something I knew Jasper could testify to. He had kept me relatively calm as I waited for Edward to return home from Bella's, and for that I was thankful. It was just one of the advantages to having a highly gifted, empathetic husband. But the fact remained that I had gone over this hundreds of times, and each time, the end result was the same. And Edward would surely know it, because I had been dwelling on it the entire time.

"You're right," he answered even now, in response to my unspoken thought. "I know she will not be happy, not at first." His voice was tight, tighter than the look shining in his eyes. "But Alice, you must understand where I am coming from."

I frowned slightly. I did- I knew all his arguments and I sympathized with him. To be fair, I didn't like the werewolves any more than he did. Even so, doubt kept creeping in. Much as I was reluctant to admit it, Jacob had kept Bella fairly safe when we couldn't be there to watch out for her. Knowing Bella, that was no small feat.

Of course, there were notable exceptions. Thoughts of motorcycles and Bella's unfortunate jumps off the La Push cliff crossed my mind. I sighed internally as the memory resurfaced; while that particular incident did end up bringing Edward home to us again, something I knew we would all be forever grateful for, it had been a very stressful time. I would not want to relive it in any way for any reason.

There was a small movement in front of me then. I looked up to see that Edward was pinching the bridge of his nose, and I instantly felt badly. _'Sorry, Edward,'_ I apologized mentally. I knew it was even harder for him to be reminded of that time, when he believed he had lost Bella forever. He still had not forgiven himself for the events leading up to that, I knew- we all knew. We tried not to think on it too much when he was around, but it was impossible not to see how it affected him. He was more reluctant now than ever to leave Bella's side. Which led back to the original discussion on hand.

He dismissed my apology with a shake of his head. I was silent while he recomposed himself, knowing by the look in his eyes that he simply needed a moment to wrestle with whatever thoughts were currently running through his head. While I waited, I decided to check once more to see if he hadn't perhaps changed his mind.

A quick glance into the future told me quite definitely that he hadn't. I was still seeing the same thing: A very irate Bella sitting reluctantly in the passenger seat of Edward's Volvo, glaring at me. It was a wholly disheartening thought, and I was about to pull back to the present when the vision suddenly changed.

It took me a minute to realize that anything was different at all. Even then, I wasn't sure what it was that had changed. It was still Bella sitting in the passenger's seat; I was still driving. She was glaring at me just as intensely as she had been. Everything looked almost exactly the same, but I could tell something was different. It didn't look right anymore… Frustrated, I blinked a few times as I refocused on the present. A frown crossed my face as I considered it. What was I missing?

A quick glance at Edward told me a lot. First, that he had stopped wallowing in self-pity, for lack of a better term to describe it. Second, that he had instead been focused on me, and what I had seen. His eyes were trained upon me, watching my every movement carefully. In contrast, his expression was neutral, although I didn't miss the way the corner of his mouth turned up ever so slightly. His expression was very carefully calculated, yes. But I was highly practiced in reading him (a necessity for our silent communication during the day). I saw the smile he was trying to hide right away. Which led me to my third insight:

He knew what it was that I couldn't figure out.

It didn't occur to me at first that he probably had something to do with the fact that the vision shifted in the first place.

Instead, I immediately glared at him, crossing my arms. _'Alright, what am I overlooking?'_ I asked him in my thoughts, still unable to pin down what it was that had changed. Aside from a slight twitch of his mouth, the corner momentarily jumping up, he gave no sign that he'd even registered my thought. I scowled at him. _'Fine. Be difficult then. I'll figure it out- you'll see.'_ That got a real reaction, miniscule as it was. He arched an eyebrow at me, and I got the idea that I was just amusing him now.

"I believe," he said quietly, "that we were previously discussing Bella's safety and well being, were we not?" I immediately got the undertone of his words- he was steering the conversation away from my mysterious vision back onto the topic he wanted- but I didn't protest.

"It's not so much her safety I'm so opposed to," I said, relenting. It was true. "Quite the opposite, actually- he'll obviously be safe with me." _'More than can be said for those mongrels,'_ I added in my thoughts. "But you know she's not going to agree." I already knew what he was going to say (being psychic had it's advantages at times), but I waited politely anyways.

"She doesn't have to know. Just so long as she's safe, and she's happy." It was exactly what I'd seen earlier. If there was one thing to be said for Edward, it was that he was stubborn. I sighed, but then I noticed he was getting ready to continue talking. I hadn't realized he wasn't done. "You can tell her that you're bringing her over for some bonding time- a sleepover, if you will." I paused and looked at him, considering that. _'A sleepover…'_ I hadn't looked at it that way. He continued on quickly, obviously encouraged by my lack of negative thoughts. "Think about it, Alice. Everyone gets something out of it this way. Neither of us will have to worry about it, which will put Jasper in a good mood. The hunting trip will go well, and when we come back, things will go back to normal. And in the mean time, Bella will get to spend a weekend with you, and you can do all those trite human things you're so fond of." I couldn't help it; I started grinning as I imagined all the things we could do, starting with manicures and makeovers. I had to admit to myself, the idea was highly tempting. Even so…

I could see Edward's frown starting to form even before I could even get the words out my mouth. "As much as that sound like fun," I relented, "are you sure that Bella will agree?" He sighed and shook his head, though just barely. Much to my surprise, I saw a faint smile appear on his face.

Even more surprising was the fact that he sound almost amused. "I know Bella can be stubborn, but you are truly her best friend…" I could all but hear the unspoken words of 'next to Jacob' lingering in the air, and I would have frowned if not for what he said next. "I know that you'll find some way to entertain her. You know as well as I do that she just takes time to get used to an idea. As long as you don't traumatize her with too much makeup or clothing or whatever else it is you have planned, I'm sure she'll be plenty happy." I couldn't help it; the visions of clothes danced back into my mind. Maybe a shopping trip would be in order…

Edward seemed to sense that I was close to giving in, because he suddenly reached into his pocket and pulled something out, tossing it to me. "This might help if you still need convincing." I caught it without a second thought, before giving him a curious look. I glanced down at my hand, and then froze in surprise.

I was holding a pair of car keys- a brand new pair, to be precise. I knew two things about these keys. One: that they belonged to no car we owned. At least, not to any car I knew about. And second: that I had only even seen keys like this once before in my life… on a day not too long ago in Italy…

Suddenly, I understood everything. My vision and the change in it suddenly became clear. It had been the interior of the car that had changed, a detail so large I should have noticed it. But I had been too focused on the main details to even consider that. Giddily, I turned the keys over in my hand. "A Porsche? Really, Edward? Oh, really?" He just grinned back at me, nodding.

"It's all yours, if you want it."

"Are you crazy?" I teased, bouncing forward as if to give him a hug. "Of course I want it!" I froze in front of him before I could reach my arms around him, however. Something in his eyes said that I was missing out on one key detail. I scrutinized him, and in response, his eyes widened just slightly, trying to give an innocent look. I saw right past it, however. "Wait… What's the catch?" I asked cautiously.

He frowned slightly. "I had hoped you would use it to take Bella out of town… Perhaps you could go on a road trip… or several." The realization dawned on me- it was a final bribe, his last hope at getting me to agree to his terms. And not only that, but it sounded like this was a lasting condition. For every time he needed to go hunting, I assumed.

If I didn't love the car so much, I might have been angry with him. As it was, I couldn't bring myself to be even slightly irritated. I had been close to agreeing anyways, and this meant I could take Bella to better malls than the ones nearby. _'Maybe we'll drive down to Pheonix one time… I'm sure Bella would enjoy the chance to see her mother.' _I heard Edward sigh in relief.

"I think that is a wise idea," he said, smiling. Then he fixed me with a careful look, as I started fantasizing about driving to school tomorrow. I couldn't wait to get back behind the wheel… "I'm afraid you'll have to wait until this weekend," he chastised me. Immediately my idea shattered, and I frowned at him.

'_What do you mean, I have to wait?'_

He chuckled, more relaxed and at ease now that he knew that Bella was taken care of. "That's the other condition- Carlisle's idea. No driving the car around town." I felt my jaw drop open in indignation, and I drew myself up to my full height- not that it made much of a difference.

"And why not?" I questioned. His lips twitched as he repressed a laugh.

"Because, we agreed that you wouldn't be able to restrain yourself. And a bright yellow Porsche zooming around Forks at 150 mph is not the kind of impression we want to give. We do want to remain inconspicuous, remember." I scowled for a second, until something he'd said hit me.

"Bright yellow?" He stared at me for a second, before laughing.

"But of course. You didn't think I'd dare get any other color, did you?" I did throw my arms around him now, bouncing up to kiss his cheek.

"You are the best brother EVER!" He laughed and hugged my back briefly, before playfully shoving me away. I giggled, before spinning around and speeding towards the stairs. From somewhere upstairs I heard an indignant call from Emmett, but I ignored it. He'd get over it. Right now, I had more important things in mind…

"Jasper! You'll never guess what Edward gave me!"

• • •

_Heh, Writing in Alice's point of view is fun._

_Let me know what you thought? I always like to get feedback! Your feedback inspires me to write better, and exchange, you get better stories to read! Everyone wins! Sounds like a good compromise to me!_


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